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20 Days to Toledo: Marcus Maye

Over the next 20 days, GatorCountry will preview the players that make up the 2013 Florida Gators football team as we inch closer and closer to the season.

Each day we will count down using the player whose jersey number corresponds with how many days there are left until Florida kicks off against Toledo in the Swamp on August 31

Today we take a look at redshirt freshman Marcus Maye.

History

Maye is an athletic safety from Holy Trinity High School in Melbourne. Maye was an Under Armour All-American in high school and chose to attend Florida over scholarship offers from Alabama, LSU, Florida State, Auburn, Miami, Michigan, Tennessee and Texas A&M to name a few.

Maye hurt his meniscus playing basketball in high school and used a redshirt his first year on campus.

Player Evaluation

Strengths

Maye has good. but not great speed and is a smart player who puts himself in good positions on the field to make plays. He takes good angles in pursuit and breaks down well when tackling. Maye wraps up and drives through tackles.

Maye plays a very similar style of football as Matt Elam. He isn’t as big of a hitter as Elam but is a player who can easily come down to play in the box and cover slot receivers. He pursues the ball carrier well and has a high motor.

Maye has good hands and shows good ball skills with an ability to go up and fight for the ball at its’ highest point.

Weaknesses

Maye isn’t the fastest player in Florida’s secondary and he doesn’t have great fluidity in his hip movements. This could make it hard for him to cover smaller, faster slot receivers in man coverage.

What to Expect

Word out of camp is that Maye has begun to take a lead at one of the safety positions. He’s currently still in a battle at the position but throughout the off-season his name popped up most when talking to players and coaches about the safety spots.

Expect Maye to win one of the starting jobs at safety and play a very similar role as to what Matt Elam played in the defense last season.

About Nick de la Torre

A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC

So……we’re looking at Riggs, who everyone already has penciled in at one safety spot, now Maye more than likely has the other…….. That means Watkins is the odd man out……plus Poole, who we haven’t heard much about lately and the three freshmen, Harris, Neal and Washington. A lot of talent having to sit at this position.

Jaylen Watkins is going to play a little of everything, the Trey Burton of the offense if you will. He’s going to play cornerback, safety ad nickel.

Brian Poole is the starting nickel back. CWM estimated that Florida was in nickel over 80% of the year in 2012 so that is a very big role for Poole. Harris and Neal are going to make an impact this season on defense and special teams.

Andrew SpiveyAugust 11, 2013, 1:12 pm

Scooter I agree a lot of talent there. I think you will see Watkins playing some as well and I think you see Brian Poole at the nickle a lot.

Over the next 20 days, GatorCountry will preview the players that make up the 2013 Florida Gators football team as we inch closer and closer to the season.

Each day we will count down using the player whose jersey number corresponds with how many days there are left until Florida kicks off against Toledo in the Swamp on August 31

Today we take a look at redshirt freshman Marcus Maye.

History

Maye is an athletic safety from Holy Trinity High School in Melbourne. Maye was an Under Armour All-American in high school and chose to attend Florida over scholarship offers from Alabama, LSU, Florida State, Auburn, Miami, Michigan, Tennessee and Texas A&M to name a few.

Maye hurt his meniscus playing basketball in high school and used a redshirt his first year on campus.

Player Evaluation

Strengths

Maye has good. but not great speed and is a smart player who puts himself in good positions on the field to make plays. He takes good angles in pursuit and breaks down well when tackling. Maye wraps up and drives through tackles.

Maye plays a very similar style of football as Matt Elam. He isn’t as big of a hitter as Elam but is a player who can easily come down to play in the box and cover slot receivers. He pursues the ball carrier well and has a high motor.

Maye has good hands and shows good ball skills with an ability to go up and fight for the ball at its’ highest point.

Weaknesses

Maye isn’t the fastest player in Florida’s secondary and he doesn’t have great fluidity in his hip movements. This could make it hard for him to cover smaller, faster slot receivers in man coverage.

What to Expect

Word out of camp is that Maye has begun to take a lead at one of the safety positions. He’s currently still in a battle at the position but throughout the off-season his name popped up most when talking to players and coaches about the safety spots.

Expect Maye to win one of the starting jobs at safety and play a very similar role as to what Matt Elam played in the defense last season.

Nick de la TorreNickde la Torrenick@gatorcountry.comAuthorA South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGCGatorCountry.com